'The Krugman Blues': Loudon Wainwright Takes On NYT Columnist In Song (VIDEO)

Paul Krurgman, the Nobel Prize-winning NYT columnist is everywhere of late -- including in verse. Calculated Risk points us to a recent performance of "The Krugman Blues" by Loudon Wainwright III in Madison Square Park.

If you've been following the financial news lately, you've no doubt seen - or empathized with -- Krugman's dour takes on souring economy. Wainwright put this way: "I guess that I identify with that pissed off look on his face."

Here's more: "I read the New York Times, that's where I get the news. Paul Krugman's on the Op Ed page, that's where I get the blues."

Wainwright takes a shot at Princeton, where Krugman teaches :

"Sometimes when he's on the TV in the background you can spot his school logo. Yes, that's right, Paul teaches at Princeton, so Krugman ought to know."

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Comments

[PhilipTaylor]

11:04 PM on 07/04/2009

"MANUFACTURED INSIDER TRADING BETS" PAID OFF for G0LDMAN and the Rest!

Sub-prime = small or zero down loan

Even 10 to 20% down loans = Negative territory after a 40% to 60% decline in most markets.

Wall Street = NO care where the mortgages for their derivatives came from

Wall Street = needed "SURE FAIL with TRICKS and TRAPS" Mortgage FODDER to make into Sure Fail Derivatives

Banks + Hedge Funds = Placed Massive Casino Bets the Mortgage Derivatives would FAIL

Banks + Hedge Funds = Sat back and collected on their Manufactured Insider Trading Bets!

Finale = everything imploded in on Banks and A1G and then Main Street footed the $14 Trillion bill

Wall Street Greed and Corruption = Rewarded By Geithner/Paulson/Summers + Obama/Emanuel

Wall Street GAMED the Failure of America's Housing!

This is a PURE and SIMPLE FELONY CHARGE!
___________________________________________

It was a relatively simple scheme with many accomplices along the way.

1. Mortgage servicing subsidiaries of i-banks or contract servicers utilized MORTGAGE SERVICING FRAUD to manufacture bogus defaults.

2. I-banks targeted certain mortgage REITs for servicing fraud which were then listed in ABX series of 20 REITs which changed every 6 months.

3. Then their traders using this insider information shorted those REITs with Credit Default Swap bets on ABX Index.

4. Despite toothless FTC settlements Mortgage Servicing Fraud goes on because Wall St. makes more money through dishonest servicers manufacturing mortgage defaults and foreclosures than it would otherwise.

[PhilipTaylor]

11:05 PM on 07/04/2009

This is how they gamed the system and rigged the bets. Mortgage Servicing Fraud is epidemic and literally steals homes often from people who have made ALL their mortgage payments on time.

There were no firewalls between subsidiary servicers and Wall st. trading desks. You can bank on this going down as the largest insider trading scheme in all history.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0323014.shtm FTC v. Fairbanks/SelectPortfolioServicing
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0623031/index.shtm FTC v. EMC/Bear Stearns

These 2 settlements alone involved more than 366,000 servicing fraud victims.

For more information Google "Mortgage Servicing Fraud" or research origin of ABX Index and the cabal behind it.

When will this massive stealing Main Street Wealth and and skimming of profits END?

This is a PURE and SIMPLE FELONY CHARGE!

When will Goldman, i-banks, and others be brought to justice?

Thanks go to Blossom_Twig on HP

[brownstoness]

03:58 PM on 07/04/2009

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY - STARVE THE BEAST

We're udnergoing a delveraging process. Expect the DJIA to bottom at 5000 or lower.

Americans are starting to come to their senses. The savings rate reached 6.9% last month,
the highest level in 15 years. This brought the level up to the long-term average. As usual,
the pundits on CNBC have concluded that now that we've reached the average, everything is
roses and the consumer can resume their free spending ways and save our economy. These fools
have no concept of history, averages or cycles. The savings rate has been in a downward
spiral for 30 years. Consumers have lost $14 trillion of net worth and 5,000 per day turn
65. Most people have miniscule retirement savings and 14.7 million are unemployed. The
savings rate will go up for the next two decades as people must save.

hat tip to: http://iamned.blogspot.com 4 the good articles r

[brownstoness]

03:57 PM on 07/04/2009

FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY - STARVE THE BEAST

We're udnergoing a delveraging process. Expect the DJIA to bottom at 5000 or lower.

Americans are starting to come to their senses. The savings rate reached 6.9% last month,
the highest level in 15 years. This brought the level up to the long-term average. As usual,
the pundits on CNBC have concluded that now that we've reached the average, everything is
roses and the consumer can resume their free spending ways and save our economy. These fools
have no concept of history, averages or cycles. The savings rate has been in a downward
spiral for 30 years. Consumers have lost $14 trillion of net worth and 5,000 per day turn
65. Most people have miniscule retirement savings and 14.7 million are unemployed. The
savings rate will go up for the next two decades as people must save.

hat tip to: http://iamned.blogspot.com 4 the good articles

[Mort]

03:32 PM on 07/04/2009

Smokey Joe's Cafe will always be the most poignant, touching song ever written. Or was it Red Guitar? Hard to tell after all these years and so much dust piled on the old LP.

[HurricaneNorm]

02:31 PM on 07/04/2009

Loudon Wainwright III is the bomb. Lots of great stuff. Prince Hal's Dirge is my favorite of his songs.

[BushBites]

10:10 AM on 07/04/2009

How about "Clockwork Chartruese" ?

[doublehelix68]

09:31 AM on 07/04/2009

Why is it that serious journalists, professors and intellectuals get parodied so frequently and the Limbaugh's, Hannity's and O'Reilly's not so much. (Yes I realize that they, themselves provide an inordinate amount of material when trying to be serious). That being said, Krugman's take on the economy (since his really is an expert) is worth bringing in to my world view.

[bugsbonzai]

01:54 PM on 07/04/2009

It's hard to parody a joke.

[Goliadkin]

11:42 PM on 07/04/2009

Mr. Wainwright did a great song in which he absolutely skewered Jesse Helms a couple years back.

[jdw1981]

08:53 AM on 07/04/2009

This guy isn't exactly Bob Dylan, that's for certain.

[bdaved]

10:39 AM on 07/04/2009

How many BobDylans do we need?

[revko]

12:10 PM on 07/04/2009

How many Bob Dylans has Bob Zimmerman been?

[HurricaneNorm]

02:32 PM on 07/04/2009

You don't know Loudon. That's for certain.

[hottingers]

06:44 AM on 07/04/2009

Loudon Wainright, what an obscure reference. This is the first time I've heard his name in 30 years. Nice to hear he's still alive.

[RobinLandseadel]

08:43 AM on 07/04/2009

He managed to do the soundtrack to Judd Aptow's 2007 movie "Knocked Up." It's some of his very best work, collected in the CD "Strange Weirdos":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVam-fshUgw

[HurricaneNorm]

02:33 PM on 07/04/2009

Awesome album. Awesome movie.

[bdaved]

10:40 AM on 07/04/2009

I can't turn around without running into the guy. He's everywhere.

[Jer1957]

02:17 AM on 07/04/2009

Krugman is not my most preferred economist--but he is not a cultish Obama-ton--and does recognize economic reality when he sees it.

Fact is, things have gotten worse under Obama. Bush's acknowledged lunacy does not excuse Obama's.

The self-absorbed President would be unwise to continue his Bush-like avoidance of reality-- bailing-out Wall Street--and giving the Hedge Funds & HMO insurance cartels everything they want--and calling it "health-care reform," etc.

I await any proof that Obama is a "progressive."

So far all I see is a Bush third term.

[walk0nwalls]

05:11 AM on 07/04/2009

Well unfortunately you're not much wrong on the financial side of things. Can't ever shake up the big money in this country can you?

[mmhlaw]

01:31 AM on 07/04/2009

Ive never heard of this guy so Im assuming he sucks and hence is not worth even paying attention to

[bdaved]

02:00 AM on 07/04/2009

What was that? I wasn't paying attention.

[loki]

02:05 AM on 07/04/2009

What planet you from??? This is the guy who wrote the theme song to the movie and the TV show Mash, and that old favorite, which he should have dedicated to Bush when he was in Office,,, "theres a dead skunk in the middle of the road"

[Feanor]

01:15 PM on 07/04/2009

Umm, no.

"Suicide is Painless" was written by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman.

Mike Altman, who wrote the lyrics, was the 14 year old son of the movie's director, Robert Altman.

[TJCole]

12:45 AM on 07/04/2009

Loudon went to Princeton himself I think..

[knerd]

12:09 AM on 07/04/2009

Thank you for this...
Wainwright's one of my under-the-radar heroesl An excellent songwriter.

[lafrance]

09:08 PM on 07/03/2009

I think Krugman is competing with Rubini for the title of Dr. Doom

[amdan]

01:15 AM on 07/04/2009

And both of them are overly optimistic about the outlook for the American economy.

[Craxer]

09:00 PM on 07/03/2009

The Wainwrights are a Canadian clan, none of whom can sing and none of whom has had a hit song not involving a skunk. Up here no one but politically correct CBC listeners lionizes them. They are also intermarried with the McGarrigle sisters (you thought McGarrigle was a mouthwash?), an equally talent-free duo who achieve grating harmonies while singing the most cloying lyrics. If you want to despair of our culture, listen to them being interviewed.

[Goliadkin]

09:09 PM on 07/03/2009

Loudon Wainwright III is a US citizen from Westchester County, NY, USA. your ignorance is surpassed only by your lack of taste in music.

[KateGee]

09:13 PM on 07/03/2009

Someone needs a hug while listening to the Log Driver's Waltz!